Skip NavigationDaniel Lubetzky, with his first failed product, a sun-dried tomato spread, at the Art of Failure pop-up gallery in New York City in September 2026.Photo: Roy Rochlin
By Daniel Lubetzky, as told to Nina Zipkin
It’s hard to get a sense of perspective when you’re inside of something. I started my business with just $10,000, and over the course of 16 years, Kind Snacks grew into a company valued at $7 billion. But over the last few years since I sold the business, I’ve done a lot of reflecting.
I’ve realized that the values that helped me build Kind into what it became, are the same ones that I relied on to learn how to become a good dad. I’ve always wanted to show my kids how to build bridges and solve problems together. Especially when we are living through a time that is rife with so much division, I’ve found that is the skill the most extraordinary leaders all have in common.
And it’s never been more clear to me since I started my newest project, an interview series podcast called “Build or Break.” I get to talk to some of the most successful people about how they got to where they are. My goal wasn’t to glamorize them, but to show them at their most human. I wanted to hear about their setbacks and what they did to turn them into fuel.
At its core, I wanted to make something I could recommend to my kids.
‘Our failures are pieces of art that we should look up to and learn from.’
I have now logged 30 interviews for this series. Everyone that I have interviewed, from Mark Cuban to Matthew McConaughey to Kendra Scott to Chris Paul, each of them had times when they felt enormously demoralized. They broke down, cried and felt stuck. But all of them told me that without those moments, they would not be who they are today.
I feel the same. Had I not launched PeaceWorks, the company which I founded before Kind that struggled for a decade, there is no chance Kind would have been born. We benefited from all those lessons.
I talk to my kids and other entrepreneurs about this all the time: You have to separate your personal self-worth from your professional career. Challenge yourself always to grow, certainly. But when you go to sleep at night, your personal growth should be tied to whether you are treating others with respect and kindness, and if you are making your small contribution to make things better.
As part of the launch of the podcast, my team and I put together an Art of Failure pop-up exhibit in New York City for three days in early September. I loved it because we got to put artifacts representing our guests’ biggest “mistakes” in a place of honor — including some jars of my first failed product, a sun-dried tomato spread.
Our failures are pieces of art that we should look up to and learn from. We need to celebrate them because those setbacks are what will distinguish us down the line, if we treat them with the introspection they deserve.
My best advice for anyone starting their career right now
It can be discouraging and difficult to maintain a sense of agency in a job market that is affected by so many external forces. But what I always tell my kids, and the aspiring entrepreneurs that I speak to, is that attitude is often destiny. Make the best of whatever you are given. I’m not saying that everyone starts from the same spot, or that this is an easy task. But we all have a chance to deploy our creativity and resilience when times are tough.
It’s so important to emphasize your creativity in your work. AI is going to beat us at so many things, but thinking outside of the box is not something that AI can do, because it is a language learning model that learns from prior patterns. Our ability to be creative and to dream, that is what sets us apart. That, and our ability to keep trying.
We all start out as novices. Not even the most skilled person — whether they are a chess master or an athlete or an entrepreneur — is great right out of the gate. Before I started this project, I’d never interviewed anyone. It was so outside of my scope of knowledge. I always took it for granted when I was on the other side of the questions, how much goes into critical and active listening.
This job takes a lot of energy and sometimes I feel like I’ve run a marathon when I’m done. It’s so much harder and more rewarding than I realized. But this has been a common theme among everyone I’ve spoken to. The more you go into spaces that aren’t comfortable, that allow you to stretch yourself, that is what makes you stronger.
Daniel Lubetzky is the founder of KIND Snacks and the creator and host of the podcast “Build or Break.” He is a social entrepreneur building bridges to prevent what happened to his father, a Holocaust survivor, from happening again. He founded Builders, an initiative to replace “us vs. them” division with a global movement of flexible thinkers and constructive problem-solvers trying to advance the will of the people. He is a Shark on ABC’s “Shark Tank” and author of The New York Times bestseller “Do the KIND Thing.” For more information, visit DanielLubetzky.com.
